Team Born at Universal Studios on the last day of the Born Summit 2026

Licensing Expo is the most important week of the year for this industry. Every brand conversation, every retail pitch, every deal structure that has been quietly building for months - it all converges in Las Vegas for three days in May. The entire industry knows it. And the entire industry prepares for it accordingly.

We have just wrapped up our Born Summit in LA - a week of strategy, alignment, and time together as a team before the madness of the show floor begins. The photos throughout this post are from that week. Now we’re heading to Las Vegas, and for the first time in 13 years of attending Licensing Expo, we have our own booth.

Before the show floor opened, I sat down with the Born team - gathered together in LA for what we call our Born Summit - and asked them three questions. What IP do you think will be most talked about? What advice would you give a first-timer? And what are you most looking forward to?

Their answers reveal something important about how this industry actually operates. Not just what's on trend. But what it means to move through a market where relationships and timing are everything.

The IP Conversation Is Always a Timing Conversation

Ask a bunch of licensing professionals which IP will dominate Licensing Expo 2026, and you'll hear a version of the same logic playing out from different angles.

K-Pop Demon Hunters came up repeatedly across the team. And I agree - it's been the darling of licensing all year. Every toy fair, every conversation, it keeps surfacing. That kind of sustained heat going into a show like this doesn't fade. It amplifies.

But the more strategically interesting answers pointed further out. Shrek 5 - releasing in June 2027 - is the kind of long-anticipated property that arrives at a show like this with enormous pent-up demand from licensees who've been waiting to move. Bluey's first-ever feature film is on the horizon. Toy Story. Star Wars. The LA28 Olympics. Mickey Mouse hitting 100 in 2028.

“Licensing Expo isn’t just about what’s releasing next quarter. The serious conversations are about 2028 and 2029. People arrive with shopping lists, not wishlists.”

— Alyssa Gourlay - President of Licensing at Born to License

This is the thing first-timers often miss. The show floor looks like a celebration. The real work underneath it is a futures market. Licensors are pre-selling the value of IP that won't hit shelves for two or three years. Licensees are committing minimum guarantees against properties that are still in production. The deals being done this week will appear in retail in 2027 and 2028.

If you're only thinking about what's out now, you're already behind.

What First-Timers Get Wrong About a Show Like This

The advice our team gave first-time attendees was practical and grounded. Plan your route. Wear comfortable shoes. Keep your schedule loose enough to actually absorb the show.

But the piece of advice I keep coming back to is this: connections happen anywhere.

The conversations that matter don't only happen in pre-booked meetings. They happen at the networking lounge, in the coffee queue, in the hallways between booths. Some of the most valuable relationships I've built over 13 years started in moments that weren't on a schedule.

For anyone attending for the first time this week - if you haven't booked your meetings, that ship has sailed. That planning should have happened months ago. The show is an execution event, not a discovery event. But within that, there's still enormous value in being present, paying attention, and talking to everyone.

Here's my specific advice for right now: use the spaces that don't require a pre-booked meeting. The main stage. The panel sessions. The networking hub. These are where you hear what the industry is actually thinking, not just what it's presenting.

On Wednesday, May 20 at 3pm, I'm on a panel at the Networking Hub: Brand Licensing Meets AI - The Fundamentals You Need to Know. If you want a practical read on how AI is actually changing the licensing landscape, come along.

David Born will be talking all things AI and Licensing at Licensing Expo’s Networking Hub

What Brands Often Miss About the Value of Licensing

The thing I'm most looking forward to this week is straightforward. For the first time in 13 years, Born has its own booth. Booth T236.

That might sound like a logistics detail. It's not. A booth at Licensing Expo is a statement about where you are as a business. It's a physical signal to the market - licensors, licensees, brands, potential partners - that you are a serious player in this space with something to show.

We'll have licensed product from our clients on display. The full team will be there. People who've been working together across time zones, building programs, managing approvals, navigating royalty reporting - all in the same place, at the same time, representing the same business.

That matters. Not for optics. For relationships. This industry runs on trust and familiarity. The more you show up, consistently, year after year, the more that trust compounds.

The Born team at Universal Studio’s world famous Studio Tour

Several team members noted that what they're most looking forward to is simply meeting people they've worked with for months - sometimes years - for the first time in person. One team member was on maternity leave for last year's show. Another has been on Teams calls since joining but never stood on the same floor as the rest of the team.

This is the underrated value of Licensing Expo. Not just the deals. The density of relationships in one place, for three days, can do the work of twelve months of remote relationship-building.

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The Bottom Line

Licensing Expo is the one week a year where the entire industry compresses into a single event. The booths, the panels, the networking lounges — all of it is infrastructure for the conversations that build programs, move products, and establish positioning.

If you're there this week: take it seriously. Your schedule should have been locked months ago. The meetings you're walking into are the result of relationships built across years. And the best conversations you'll have might not be on your calendar at all.

For the Born team - this year marks the first time we hold our own space on that floor. It's a milestone. But more than that, it's a responsibility. Every licensed product on our stand represents a client's IP, a deal structure, an approval workflow, and a retail commitment. That's what a booth means when you build it properly.

Come find us at T236. And if you see me on the floor, say hello!

want to connect?

The Born Perspective is one part of a bigger conversation. If you want more, you can find me on LinkedIn for industry commentary, Instagram for what's happening day to day, and YouTube and the Born to License Podcast for deeper dives into the world of licensing. Pick your platform. I'll be there.